PS寫作范例小集(超級經(jīng)典)

1、PS寫作范例What specifically have you done to help a group or organization change?(300 word limit)In 1990 as a senior associate at Condor Consulting, I headed?nbsp;a four personCondor team for two years at Monitor Software (MS), a mid-size firm whichsold data-base management software products. Our missio

2、n was to convince 120key MS programmers and engineers to sell MS consulting services as a newproduct, in addition to their old engineering and programming tasks. Thesevalued and long-term employees were not sales oriented and were comfortablewith the status quo.?nbsp;Also, they were?nbsp;committed t

3、o finishing their currentprojects, not adding to them.I helped plan several company meetings and question-and-answer sessions toshare the companys new?nbsp;vision. I explained the need for MS to change inorder to remain competitive. But many MS programmers and engineers, at theend of our first orien

4、tation phase (6 months),?nbsp;were not committed to thechange. After carefully assessing these meetings with my own change team, Itold senior management the original plan would take 3 years instead of 15months. We had to hire new people, deal with winning over more recruits, and?nbsp;craft an exit s

5、trategy for those unwilling to join.Over the next two years 70?nbsp;percent of the initial target audience signed on,and 30 percent were transferred, quit,?nbsp;or let go. The new consultingbusiness became 25 percent of MS total revenues.Executing lay-offs at the same time as making new hires was ha

6、rd. So wasintegrating new hires into this roiling environment.?nbsp;My teams?nbsp;success wasbased on?nbsp;(i) open communication, (ii) a willingness to change the firstplan, (iii) hiring outplacement and recruitment experts (after a failure oftrying this in-house) and?nbsp;(iv) constantly sharing t

7、he new vision andbenefits. Although we revised the?nbsp;change plan, we never waivered in ourultimate commitment to it-and it showed.Comment:Not a pretty picture at MS, but a classic change essay with great contentand adequate execution and analysis. The essay deals with a key changesituation: veter

8、an, skilled employees must adapt to an additional function:selling consulting services rather than just products. Reclusive engineeringtypes must start selling themselves, an impossible transition for asubstantial minority. The writer spearheads the change. The set up isadequately described, followe

9、d by the?nbsp;the buzz-word filled analysis(explained our vision, valued feedback, gave credit to resistance, recognizedearly mistakes, hired experts, showed our commitment to change).?nbsp;While theanalysis is cursory, and repetitive, what gives this essay power is theunderlying explosiveness of th

10、e situation, a real blood bath (30 percentfirings) and for the survivors, a top-down change that nobody reallywelcomed. What comes through by implication is that the writer is tough,smart, and a natural leader. He is compassionate not so much by nature, but by training.?nbsp;Aperfect HBS type.?nbsp;

11、He knew what you are supposed to do insuch a situation (hold meetings, explain the change, listen to resistance)but that is where the book learning stopped and reality took over.All that jazz did not really work-at least it did not work as originallyplanned. Time for Phase Two: extend the deadline,

12、keep up the vision drill,fire people, and hire replacements.?nbsp;The detail about out-sourcing the hiresand fires, after failing to do it in-house, is powerful and telling. So islast sentence about being committed to change, and showing that commitment.Within the context of this essay, it rings tru

13、e, and you can almost picturethe writer heading the entire two-year operation in a collected, firm,intelligent, by-the-book business-like way.?nbsp;More condensed writing and less repetition could have opened some space toscrew in further powerful details, but the big picture comes through, and thes

14、ituation is compelling.?nbsp;The writer?nbsp;touches all the right bases, and?nbsp;theessay scores high.*In 1991, Monitor Softwares (MS) management understood that real growth wasgoing to come from adding the sale of consulting services to their coreproduct: specialized data-base software. As one of

15、 four consultants fromCondor Consulting assigned to help make this transition, my challenge was toguide the government accounts sales force into selling consulting engagementsas well as products.Because the government account sales force already perceived itself?nbsp;assuccessful, the first thing I

16、had to do was explain why a relationshipbuilding approach was needed for long term profitability. I met with eachmember of the 30 person sales force in person for one-hour and from thesemeetings?nbsp;I developed a 10-day?nbsp;Change In Mission training program.?nbsp;Also,as the field specialist,?nbs

17、p;I accompanied sales people on sales calls and?nbsp;showed them how to qualify sales leads into real consulting opportunities.Because closing?nbsp;a consulting contract was more complex and prolonged thanselling a product, I also suggested a new profit plan to accommodate thechanges. I also built i

18、n other standard salesmen incentives?nbsp;such aspremiums, bonuses, and prizes?nbsp;which were new to MS. In two years, thesoftware consulting practice at MS grew from zero to $ 8 million.?nbsp;Lookingback, one key?nbsp;was redesigning the compensation package, and selling thatidea to MS management.

19、?nbsp;Management thought the package too rich but Istressed that they were asking the sales force to change dramatically, andthis also required some radical re-thinking on their part. They stillbalked, and I suggested a pilot program for volunteer early adapters. Thatworked, and soon the benefits be

20、came clear to the sales staff and managementComment: A good companion piece to Essay 1 since this guy was a juniormember of the same team.?nbsp;Good set-up, fast but maybe a little too curt(might be hard to understand if you had not read Essay 1).?nbsp;The body mixeslots of details with the usual ch

21、ange buzz-set?nbsp;explained the need forchange, held meetings, listened to feed-back. The writer also shows anattractive variety of skills, including designing compensation packages andaccompanying the MS sales force as a guide, plus dreaming up the pilotprogram. (When our writer acted as guide to

22、the MS sales force it no doubtstruck the funny bell for all you Big Consulting firm types. This guy hadnever sold anything.) Be that as it may, this is a very solid piece of workwhich touches a lot of bases, deals with a dead-on change situation, andcrams in a lot of specifics and buzz terms. In man

23、y ways it is a better essaythan 1, since the specifics are more telling and detailed. That is thepay-off. Note that an entire essay could have been written by this writer about how he changedmanagements mind about the compensationpackage, but since the other specifics are so strong, it was probably

24、betterto go with a wider approach. As a rule, though, the more narrow topic isbetter. This candidate represents the very solid, very smart, non-charismaticyoung worker bee that is the backbone of HBS. The writer of 1 represents theextraordinary top 15 percent, but this could be judged the superior e

25、ssay. Intruth both essays are outstanding.*As an Information Technology?nbsp;consultant to a major states?nbsp;Department of?nbsp;Motor Vehicles DOMV,?nbsp;I led a 22 person cross-functional decison team(technical and management) in selecting a single vendor (from six) for a?nbsp;$10?nbsp;million ca

26、ll center upgrade.My first hurdle was credibility.?nbsp;I was a twenty-eight?nbsp;year oldconsultant and most of the DOMV managers were older, sometimes by 10 years ormore.?nbsp;I was extremely respectful to everyone, even going so far as to callsenior people Mr. or Ms until asked to use their first

27、 name. I also madeit a point of meeting individually with 10 leading managers my first two dayson the job and personally asking for their help.?nbsp;Many Motor Vehicle seniorpeople were political and I made it a point to respect that as thecorporate culture?nbsp;(it helped that my Dad had been a sta

28、te lifer althoughnot in this state). But I also confirmed from my consulting company that thevery reason we were brought in was to make a merit decision. (This is notalways the case.)After earning some good faith, I then made it clear, through weekly memos,technical reports, and meetings, that I was

29、 firm about reaching an objectivedecision.?nbsp;I actually made the process more quantative than strictlynecessary.?nbsp;The danger of running this wizard show was not getting fullinformation about each departments needs, but I tried to do that informally.Also, my clear objectivity freed up the inte

30、rnal technical people, whoproved very helpful.When disagreements emerged, I resorted to an objective scoring process tobuild consensus. At one point, I had to initiate a second round of scoring. Icould have been more of?nbsp;a people?nbsp;person?nbsp;but given my age, the internalculture, and the li

31、mited task, the super straight arrow model worked.Comment: A paradoxical topic, perhaps more suited to Q. 1 about leadershipthan this question because this answer is not really about how the?nbsp;writerhelped an organization change, it is about how the writer helped anorganization change computers,

32、a key difference.?nbsp;One of the charms of thisessay, in fact, is the writers awareness that he is not going to change this?nbsp;organization, its a bunch of Motor Vehicle state-lifer types, and nobodyis going to change that.?nbsp;The writer is smart enough to work around thepolitical culture?nbsp;

33、with his wizard show (a great term I had never heardbefore).?nbsp;The writer is further aware enough to know that possibly he overdidthe straight arrow routine, but it was an acceptable strategy given thesituation.?nbsp;Like most good essays (but see below) it gains force byself-awareness.?nbsp;In a

34、ddition to discussing some?nbsp;business buzz words(establishing respect, earning good will, respecting the corporate culture)we also have the author convincingly reflecting on his motives (maybe he was too much a straightarrow, he was putting on a wizard show,he understood the culture because his f

35、ather had worked in a similar one).?nbsp;This essay runs a risk that you may not like this guy.?nbsp;He is both technicaland crafty at the same time.?nbsp;I like this guy, but I am a little more cynicalthan the average HBS essay reader, who is more often than not apolitcally-correct,?nbsp;therapeuti

36、cally oriented, do-gooder type with a strong?nbsp;commitment to process.?nbsp;That type of reader might criticize the author forbeing elitist (he knows best), patronizing (intentionally calling his eldersMr and Ms) and anti-democratic (obscuring the consensus process with awizard show, and bragging

37、about it in the essay).牋 That all sounds alittle nutty to me (Ive worked in state government and know this situationexactly), but Im not an admissions officer.?nbsp;You could make a strong case,given that possible critique, to change or abandon this essay.?nbsp;If otherparts of the app. confirmed th

38、e elitist wizard picture, it could be fatal.?nbsp;Also realize that readers are not Saints and possibly not genius criticseither.?nbsp;It is possible for this essay to annoy someone who could not really explain why, butthe author would pay the price anyway.?nbsp;The writer does not have the chance t

39、o argue back. Personality in an essayis a strong suit, but subtle attitude can be deadly.*In 1995,?nbsp;during?nbsp;the second year of my internship with Mogul Investment Bank(MIB) in New York, my father was diagnosed with lung cancer, and told he had6 months to live.?nbsp;My father owned?nbsp;a?nbs

40、p;sporting goods store in Queens.?nbsp;Inthe next two months, I was able to hire a store manager, add a bill payingsystem, and educate my mother to run the store alone. My father died fourmonths after the initial diagnosis.I first used contacts at MIB to obtain a definitive diagnosis of my fathersca

41、ncer from world-famous specialists at Sloan Kettering Hospital.?nbsp;Afterconsultation with them, my family elected to peruse a care not atreatment course for the cancer. That decision gave us more time to focuson preparing my mother to take over the business rather than fight thecancer.?nbsp;Throug

42、h a local?nbsp;priest,?nbsp;I located a recent immigrant from Greece(our own ethnic heritage)?nbsp;who was smart and happy to have?nbsp;the managers?nbsp;job.?nbsp;He was a lucky hire.I spent?nbsp;a month training the new manager and going through the old records.(I took an unprecedented three-week

43、leave from MIB and moved back home.) Myfather was able to help a little, but he soon became too sick. I computerized?nbsp;the bill paying system, and concluded that computerizing the inventory wasnot worth it. My mother had worked in the store in the past (as had I), and Iwas able to make her feel c

44、omfortable about taking over by making her acollaborator in the reorganization.?nbsp;Also working in the store was a way totake our minds off my fathers illness, and my father?nbsp;was pleased to knowthat my mother would be financially secure and the store would go on.Comment: Wild card?nbsp;good an

45、swer in which the facts speak for themselveswithout much need of buzz word embellishments or analysis.?nbsp;We areimpressed here most by the writers character and his strong familybackground. Although working in a blue-chip investment banking internship,the writer takes an unprecedented three-week l

46、eave to deal with a familycrisis.?nbsp;Not many people would leave a top Wall Street job to move back tothe old neighborhood and immerse themselves in a small family business.?nbsp;Weare also impressed by the writers apparent competence, maturity,?nbsp;andconfidence. After all,?nbsp;hiring someone t

47、o manage a small business, andtraining someone else to own it, are not skills taught at Wall Streetinvestment banks. The decision not to aggressively fight the cancer, madeafter consultation with leading experts, is also powerful and counter-intuitive to Wall Street and HBS types, but correct under

48、the circumstances. Thatkind of authentic and wisdom-laden detail scores super high with admissions readers (and normalreaders too).?nbsp;The answer gains from itsbusiness-like recital of both the practical and psychological issues: hiringthe manager through the local priest, organizing a bill paying

49、 system,deciding early to accept his fathers death not fight it, the recognitionthat working in the store helped the family deal with their grief, hisfathers pleasure at seeing his wife taken care of after his death.That recital makes the essay conform to the MACRO, in its own way. The set-upis stat

50、ed quickly in the first paragraph, and what follows is a narrativecontaining both facts and insights, each of which illustrate specificallywhat the writer did to help an organization change.?nbsp;We are left with apicture of a high-functioning, caring, out-of-the-box thinking and strongfamily values

51、 young man HBS Poster Boy Type 2.?nbsp;Type 1 is inside-the-boxthinking. but the power of the essay is that is shows us those traitsthrough good specifics rather than just telling us.?nbsp;Many writers baldlystate I am determined, hard working, and believe in truth and justice . . . but the trick is

52、 provide the unique and personalized details that showthose things, and this writer has done it.*Personal StatementWhew, another long day, I thought to my self as I grabbed a carrot stick andplopped on the couch . I really understood the way to graph a parabola inPre-Cal . the short story b y Bierce

53、 was interesting . I aced my Italiantest and got a B+ on my oral report on Paris . the Bosnia issue in historyreally caught my attention . and I finally completed my physics lab . Oh,I have to remember to make that deposit for the Post Prom Committee and tobalance my treasurer books for Italian Club

54、 . the French Club meeting wascancelled until tomorrow. Just then my thoughts were interrupted by a phonecall.Hello, I answered.Hi, Sabrina, its Michelle from Stop & Shop. Do you think you could workat 3:00 today? Were short a few people.Sure, Ill be there in a little while. Bye. I hung up the phone

55、. Grabbingmy smock, I headed for the supermarket in Shelton. At 3:00 on the dot Istepped through the automatic doors.Hi Michelle, has it been busy? I asked the manager.No, not really, but weve had a few sick calls. Im glad you could make it.Thanks. Relieve Jon on register 9.Hey, Jon, youre going hom

56、e, I said, grinning.Thank God! This place has been a madhouse. Is it a full moon tonight?Stop. It couldnt have been that bad, I laughed.See for yourself. Bye, he answered.I greeted my first customer, a lady with a petite figure and beautiful long,black hair, well maintained. She was wearing a red business suit that wascovered by a long, black leather jacket. The outfit was accented with a heartpendant necklace.Hi, how are you?Fine, thank you, she smiled. No coupons to